Vintage Aircraft Restorers -
Vickers Vedette Project

Inside a representation of the Moose Jaw Western Aeroplane Company
hangar is where a group of hard-working volunteers from the Vintage Aircraft
Restorers worked on building a replica of a Vickers Vedette 'flying boat'.

When the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) needed an airplane for aerial
mapping and forest fire patrols in Canada's north, it turned to Canadian
Vickers, a boat building company in Montreal. Canadian Vickers built the
first Vedette in 1924. Another 60 followed in 5 different versions.

The Vickers Vedette looked like a boat with wings. The biplane had a
wooden hull and an open cockpit. The passenger sat in front of the
pilot. The engine was mounted pusher-style behind the pilot with the
propeller facing the back.

No complete Vickers Vedette has survived anywhere in Canada.

In 2003, the WDM acquired parts of an original hull, which is on
display near the hangar.

The Vickers Vedette project was highlighted in the
January-February 2011 edition of the
Canadian Museum Association
publication Muse.

In 2014 the VAR Vedette Project won a Ninety-Nines Canadian
Award in Aviation.